The present invention relates generally to semiconductor memory devices, and more particularly, to a flash memory device and a data I/O operation method thereof.
A flash memory device executes a program operation, a read operation, and an erase operation. The program operation and the read operation of the flash memory device are executed on a page basis.
In more detail, during the program operation of the flash memory device, externally input data are input and stored in page buffers, respectively, through a data input circuit. Thereafter, the data stored in the page buffers are programmed into memory cells included in a selected page of a memory cell array. Furthermore, during the read operation of the flash memory device, output data respectively read from the memory cells included in the selected page are stored in the page buffers, respectively, and are then output to an external device through a data output circuit.
Meanwhile, as semiconductor fabrication technology advances, semiconductor devices operating at higher speeds have been developed. As a result, there is a tendency that the operating speed of flash memory devices applied to semiconductor devices operating at high speeds has also gradually increased. Since the program or read operation process of the flash memory device includes the data input or output process, they require a relatively long time compared with its erase operation process. Therefore, in order to improve the operating performance of the flash memory device (i.e., to increase the operating speed), it is important to reduce a time taken in the data input or output process of the flash memory device.